Law secretary: Retired officer, 70, gets two-year extension

Abul Hassan Najmi’s extension goes against appointment policies.

LAHORE:

The Punjab government has extended the contract of the secretary for law and parliamentary affairs by two years with effect from October 19, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The notification is dated October 14, but was not released until the first working day after the Eid holidays, an official said.

“The contract appointment of Dr Syed Abul Hassan Najmi, secretary, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department, is hereby extended for the period of two years with effect from October 19, 2013,” reads the notification.

The notification was issued by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) with the approval of former chief secretary Javaid Aslam, who left the province to become principal secretary to the prime minister on the same date.

According to the Re-employment Policy of 2003 and Contract Appointment Policy of 2004, retired officials above the age of 63 should not be hired on contract in the public sector.

Najmi, who is 70, retired as assembly secretary in January 2004. He was re-employed as law secretary in October 2009. His contract was extended for two years in 2011, and now again this year.



An official with the S&GAD’s Regulations Wing said that when the contract extension was discussed, department rules were cited stating that a person who had retired as a district and sessions judge could be appointed as secretary of the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department regardless of age.

However, the official argued, this did not apply to Najmi, who had started off as a civil judge but later joined the assembly cadre.

He added that the third contract extension of a formerly retired official was a new precedent.

Najmi could not be reached for comment, but an official who is close friends with him told The Express Tribune that he had been all set to retire, having shifted all his belongings from the office before the Eid holidays.

The Punjab government told him at the last minute that they were extending his contract for two years, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2013.